


The Battle Approaches

by MelyndaR



Series: Fire and Ice [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Norse Religion & Lore, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Multi, Polyamory, Triad Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 17:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12752982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: Peace doesn't last, Sigyn knows this, and has accepted it, but, despite her husband's past warnings, she'd never expected the battle to be such an awful one to fight.





	1. Chapter 1

Warmth was an unusual thing to come by on Jotunheim, but for the first time in what seemed like practically forever, spring was in the air and Narfi and Vali had convinced the whole family to spend their afternoon picnicking outside.

Sigyn was, she knew, the most receptive of the adults to this idea. Angrboda saw it as something of a frivolous waste of time – though she didn’t mind their children doing such things, she saw no use in them for herself. And Loki, bless the little prince that was still inside of him whether or not he would admit it, couldn’t understand why they didn’t simply eat indoors like civilized creatures. “Or at least let me conjure up a table of some sort,” he’d suggested.

“But it’s more _fun_ to sit on the ground, Papa,” Hela insisted, and when Jormungandr and Fenrir cast their lot in with her opinion, not even Loki bothered to mention that they were likely too old to be insisting on such things in the first place. Why should he bother being such a spoilsport, after all? Spring was finally touching the air of Jotunheim, they were together as a family, and all was peaceful. It was a bliss that none of them wanted to disturb.

Life would have different plans for them soon, of course, but for now, all was well.


	2. Chapter 2

Peace never lasted. Sigyn knew that, had unfortunately accepted it as a rather sad fact of her family’s life. But still… _this_ particular foe had managed to take them all by surprise, given that they hadn’t even given much thought to the fact that he existed in the first place.

Apparently, the reigning king of Jotunheim, one of Laufey’s sons, had issue with Loki – so much so that he had sent a score of soldiers to their home to kill him.

There was a number of problems with this fact, beyond the blatantly obvious. Firstly, Angrboda had long ago put magical glamours around their land so that no one should have been able to enter it, or at the very _least see_ it… and yet these twenty soldiers had done both. That was not acceptable.

But clearly the much more immediate issue was that neither was their ongoing attempt to kill Loki and anyone who got in their way.

Sigyn had immediately sent all six of the children away into the woods to wait near one of Loki’s tunnels to Midgard – should they need to take such a drastic measure as using it. The adults had stayed behind to defend their tiny farm, and, in Sigyn and Angrboda’s case, their husband.

Angrboda and Loki had both dropped away the illusions that they used almost constantly, letting their icy “monstrous” sides show. Loki wielded his dagger and his frost-bite-inducing touch with equal ferocity, and Angrboda did the same with her spear and body. Sigyn, on the other hand, held only a sword that she was more than proficient with. Together, she thought the three of them had managed to incapacitate three-fourths of their enemies… and yet they still ended up shoulder to shoulder with one another, surrounded on every side by four of them.

…Until two of the warriors separated just enough to let the final man in their ranks closer to the triad so that he could stand directly in front of Loki. The Jotun raised his dagger to point at that man in particular, but he only smiled in a way that made Sigyn’s skin crawl, as if having a weapon in his face amused him.

“Silly little boy, what do you think that can do against me?” he asked evenly, still smiling all the while.

A tendril of magic the color of Jotunheim’s dark sky curled out from the man’s fingertip, and Sigyn felt both of her spouses stiffen as she did the same. This ancient-looking man had been fighting them, yes, but this was the first time he’d used any sort of magic. And yet the only thing the magic did was tilt Loki’s chin upwards, red eyes meeting red eyes.

“Thanos sends his fondest regards along with the king,” the wizard prattled on with his faux pleasantness, and Sigyn all but blocked him out after a moment of numbing surprise.

 _Thanos was involved?_ She wasn’t even sure whether or not that thought merited being surprised over.

 A second strand of magic moved slowly from the wizard’s other hand he had kept held down at his side, and she kept an eye on it, too aware of how easy it was for an unnoticed thing to destroy. The twisting movements of the magic reminded her of a snake, everything about this wizard did. “But the king’s issue is that another brother means a possible usurper to his throne, and he just can’t have that.”

That _nearly_ unnoticed strand of magic flashed out in the space of a split second, exactly as Sigyn had been afraid it would, and aimed directly towards her husband’s heart. It was magic, technically not a solid – not much of anything quantifiable by such simple terms – and when she sliced her sword through it, it was as if nothing had happened at all. The magic didn’t even pause, instead shooting _into_ Loki’s body.

Time itself seemed to slow down as Loki made a terrible gurgling noise, his eyes widening with fear. There was an awful cracking noise from inside of him, and then he crumpled to the ground, all sickening angles and harsh breathing, while the Jotuns scattered. Their wizard’s laughter echoed back to them through the barren trees and ice ridges.

“Thanos is _coming for Midgard…_ ” the wizard sang out, uncaring as to whether or not they could hear him.


	3. Chapter 3

Sigyn dropped to her knees in the slushy snow beside Loki. “His spine,” she choked, paying Angrboda no real mind as her own magic – that of a healer – surged into her hands. “That bastard broke his spine.”

“He sounds like he’s breathing in water,” Angrboda murmured, her own hands fluttering nervously now that there was no foe to vanquish.

That was their roles, Sigyn healed what was broken while Loki and Angrboda saw to it that no one broke their family in the first place. Or at least they did their best. Sometimes their best wasn’t enough, and even worse… sometimes Sigyn’s powers weren’t enough either. She couldn’t bear to tell Angrboda that she thought this was going to be one of those times.

“His lungs, I think,” Sigyn stammered as she worked, her glowing hands hovering over her husband while Angrboda gripped his cold hand. “His spine or ribs punctured his lungs.”

“He’s drowning in his own blood?” Angrboda actually _whimpered_ , understanding that much of what Sigyn wasn’t saying.

Sigyn met Angrboda’s gaze, and even through her tears she could tell that she didn’t have to say a word; they all already knew.

In the distance, the laughter of Loki’s murderer faded from their hearing, as did his ridiculous sing-song voice: “Thanos is coming; long live Thanos…”

Slowly, Loki’s rattled breathing wound down until only silence filled the clearing. In the nearby barn, one of the reindeer stomped on the ground and with Angrboda’s glamours lowered, the sound was abnormally loud. It must’ve reminded Angrboda, brought her back to herself a bit, because she turned from the body between herself and Sigyn, all but glaring at the place where her glamours should be around their farm. With a dark sheen of glitter, the farm slid from view as the glamours were raised again. As Sigyn watched her from behind, Angrboda put her usual glamour back into place over herself, becoming a woman with the palest white skin and waist-length black hair, dressed in a robe of furs from animals that she had hunted and trapped herself.

Angrboda ran her hands over her face, or perhaps wiped her tears away, while Sigyn staggered back onto her feet. She walked over to Angrboda, sniffling as she put her chin on the other woman’s shoulder. “We should go to the children.” That much she said firmly – they both knew that was their next course of action – but the second sentence came out much more uncertainly as she asked, “But what then?”

Angrboda drew in another breath, and even only in periphery, Sigyn could see her slipping her emotional shields back into place, becoming the strategical warrior that was needed in that moment. “We must take his threat as valid. Thanos is coming, and something must be done about that, but we can’t decide what until we have our family at our side.”

Hesitantly, Angrboda reached out to clasp Sigyn’s hand. Even though she was no Jotun, Sigyn was fairly certain that her own hand was as cold as Angrboda’s always was… but at least Angrboda was here with her. With one of her most-loved at her side, she told herself she could handle anything, even fleeing this world if necessary – even facing Thanos.

Squeezing each other’s hands tight, they stopped only long enough to reclaim their weapons where they’d been dropped, then abandoned their husband’s body in the snow, running towards where their children waited.


	4. Chapter 4

“You must think this ‘Thanos’ guy is a pretty big threat, Tony,” Steve’s voice floated over the old flip phone.

“Considering how freaked out Thor was when he told me what he’d heard, I’d say so. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Thor look genuinely afraid before this.”

“Do you have any idea who his sources for the information are in the first place? It’s not that I don’t trust Thor, but I don’t trust a good number of the people he surrounds himself with off-world.”

“Yeah,” Tony drew in a slow breath before beginning, “About that…”

* * *

_Jotunheim_

_The day before_

Sigyn and Angrboda ran together through the icy woods, and the blonde had a moment of thinking to be grateful that it was spring so the snow wasn’t nearly so thick or difficult to travel through as they went towards where their children were waiting. All six were near one of Loki’s portals to Midgard, a precaution they’d been told to take the moment their home was surrounded by murderous foot soldiers of Jotunheim’s king.

Sleipnir met them first, and Sigyn saw her biological sons behind him, the older three forming a protective sort of wall between the rest of the world and their three younger siblings. And emerging from behind an overhang of melting ice… Loki, winded but in one piece.

Angrboda and Sigyn froze, staring at him.

He smiled, halfway between his normal, teasing smile and something _much_ more repentant. “When I realized what the soldiers were at the house for, I panicked,” he explained quickly. “I left a double there to fight with you and myself went with the children. I apologize; there was simply no time to tell you. I thought you had seen me go with the children.”

“We _didn’t_ ,” Angrboda bit out sharply – but in the next second she had thrown her arms around him and was clinging for dear life, murmuring, “Don’t you ever do that again, or I _will_ kill you myself.”

They all knew enough to believe her.

“I know,” Loki said, “That the plan was to escape to Midgard if we needed to, but I think we ought to first inform Thor of what’s coming. Thanos is more than what most could handle even expecting him; the best thing we can do is give my brother as much time as possible to gather as many as possible to aid him –” Loki drew in a deep breath, and Sigyn saw a fear he might never admit to in his eyes as he corrected, “ _Us_ in our fight against Thanos and his army.”

“Agreed,” Sigyn nodded, already starting to shepherd the children back the way that she and Angrboda had come. There was a portal to Asgard between here and the farm that they could all use, and as it was, their children would be safest on Asgard in the first place.

“Who do you think Thor will draw in to fight alongside us?” Angrboda asked, and Sigyn could see her working out battle plans and potentialities in her head as they began to walk.

Loki drew in a second breath like the first, and Sigyn _knew_ the answer already, though he at first said only, “His Midgardian comrades from… before, I’d imagine.”

“Lovely,” Angrboda murmured, and Sigyn couldn’t tell how sincere – or insincere – she was.

* * *

 “And you’re _sure_ Thanos is this big of a threat?” Steve asked again. “Because if I bring my guys out of Wakanda, and this _doesn’t_ have the severity that you think it will—”

“Rogers,” Tony broke in, staring in shock out the window of his office. “It’s that bad. I promise you it’s that bad.”

“How do you know that if Thor hasn’t given you a real, comprehensive rundown of what you’re going to be dealing with?”

“Because,” Tony grimaced even as the words came out of his mouth. “I just watched the Bifrost land in the yard, and now I’m watching Thor, three women, and _Loki_ make their way into the facility. Bring the others now, will you?”

Suddenly, there were no more questions in Steve’s voice as he said shortly, “Right. We’re on our way.”

* * *

“Last time I checked, Nat, Tony wasn’t real happy with you when you jumped ship to stay in Wakanda,” Clint commented.

“Last time I checked,” Natasha replied, fastening a strand of widow’s bites around her wrist, “Tony had bigger problems on his mind then me staying with my spouses.”

“Like Loki showing up and wanting to help us fight this guy?” Scott suggested.

“I’m telling you,” Clint looked over his shoulder at Scott. “Loki isn’t a problem – not in the scope of things, and not at all if you talk to the right people.”

“Since when are _you guys_ ‘the right people,’ though?” Steve asked. “Tony says Loki and a couple of the women with him are refusing to talk – at all – until you and Nat are there.”

“Suffice to say that we learned to put up with one another during Wakanda’s scuffle with Russia,” Natasha replied.

“It sounds like your downright friendly,” Sam remarked, though at least his tone held no real suspicion.

Natasha and Clint shared a glance, but each elected to stay silent as they finished preparing to land at the Avenger’s facility.

Tony and Thor met them when they landed, and Steve moved ahead of the others to shake Tony’s hand. “Talk after this is through?” Steve suggested, to which Tony gave a quick, curt, nod.

And that was that.

Beside him, Clint barely heard Natasha release a small, tense breath.

“Shall we, my friends?” Thor asked, gesturing back to the facility. “We have much to talk about, and now that we’re all here, I’d imagine my brother and sisters-in-law will be more forthcoming with the information that they have to share.”

“Loki’s going to talk about Thanos?” Clint double-checked in surprise.

“He has opted to, yes,” Thor nodded, though his eyes had darkened with thoughts that Clint could only guess at. “He’s said Thanos is an adversary that merits such… discomfort.”

Clint was pretty sure that ‘discomfort’ was a kind word for what Loki was feeling right now, but he knew Thor only wanted to protect his brother, so he kept his mouth shut.

“You’re _sure_ that Loki’s willing to work with us on this?” Steve asked – Clint had stopped keeping track of how many times the question had been posed.

“Yes,” Thor replied firmly.

Natasha fixed the rest of the team with a firm glare, adding, “Listen, boys, if Loki is what I’ve come to believe he is, the fact that his wives are here with him says a great deal about his intent. If he meant to cause trouble, he wouldn’t put them in harm’s way too – which means he’s not in the mood to cause trouble, but to stop it. Okay?”

Natasha, at least, Tony and Steve both still trusted just enough to put their personal feelings aside for the sake of the impending battle. If she said Loki and his wives could be trusted in this fight, then they believed her. And for now, that was enough.

For now, this tense, hesitantly struck truce was enough… because it had to be.

“Okay,” Steve and Tony replied together.

Then Tony’s chest rose and fell as he drew in a breath and nodded to Cap. Cap, in turn, swept his gaze across all of them as they filed into the room where Vision was already waiting with Sif, Loki, Sigyn, and Angrboda. “All right, Avengers,” he paused a beat, as if he was reconsidering everything only to return to the same conclusion he’d already made. “…Time to assemble.”


End file.
